Across The Borders
by SuperNova23
Summary: Yukari gave everything for the one she loved. Now with nothing to lose, how far will she go to get him back? Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the final draft! Finally got around to updating it! I hope you all enjoy this story. This was my Writer's Craft Magnum Opus, and a big thank you to everyone who helped with the spelling/grammar and characterization!**

**Persona 3 is owned by Atlus and Touhou is owned by ZUN. I own nothing. I technically don't even own this story as I don't have the physical copy on me. **

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**Across The Borders Chapter 1**

Yukari adjusted her pink cardigan before picking her bow up from where she had set it down. She ran to catch up with her other classmates who had gone up to the next floor of Tartarus, the tower they had to scale at night during the Dark Hour; the "Hidden Hour between one day and the next, which only a select few people knew about, while those who weren't were trapped in coffins for the duration, completely unaware of its existence. It was during this time that monsters called "Shadows" went about and feasted on the minds of their victims.

Only those aware of the Dark Hour could fight Shadows, and the only way to fight them was with the power of Persona. A Persona is a physical manifestation of one's psyche by taking the form of a figure from mythology, and gives its master the power to use certain magical skills. Yukari was one of these Persona-users, and she, along with many others, had been recruited into a club specifically meant to hunt Shadows, S.E.E.S., or the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad.

Proof of membership was a red armband all the members wore on missions, and their Evokers. They were shaped like guns, but they didn't fire bullets. The idea behind them was that by firing an Evoker at one's head, it would activate the survival instinct, summoning the Persona to protect its master, lending its powers to the summoner.

To fight these Shadows, they would make frequent forays into a tower that only appeared during the Dark Hour, Tartarus. Tartarus was a colossal tower that had a mazelike structure and every night almost every floor had a different layout every night, meaning that there were an infinite number of layouts a floor could take. Sometimes, people even got trapped inside.

Currently, Yukari was on a rescue mission rescuing one of the unlucky people trapped within. With her was the team leader, Minato, as well as Aigis and Koromaru. Minato had grey eyes, which were mostly covered by his dark blue hair. He was one of those people that just captured every girl's heart, and Yukari would be lying if she said she wasn't at least a little attracted to him.

Aigis was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl. Well, girl wouldn't be the right term to describe her as she was a female robot, or, even more specifically, a Seventh generation Anti-Shadow Weapon. She was built as a humanoid and functioned as close to a human as possible so her AI would recognize her as a human and manifest a Persona for her. Yukari wasn't so clear on the details, but it worked.

Koromaru was another anomaly. He was a white dog with red eyes. That was unique on its own, but there was also the fact that he was the only non-humanoid they knew of who could summon a Persona. Seeing as he lacked hands, he had a special collar that allowed him to summon his Persona.

Tonight they were scaling Tartarus because they were tracking down a missing person. Sometimes, people ended up getting caught in Tartarus when it formed during the Dark Hour, and once you were in, it was an ever-shifting maze inside. They had an idea of where the missing person was; it was just a matter of finding them. Once they reached the floor they needed to, Minato stopped them. "We need to split up to cover more ground. If you find the Access Point, wait there. If you find the missing person, take them right to the Access Point. Are we clear?"

Everyone nodded, and they all split off into different directions. Yukari ran to the left, Aigis and Koromaru went to the right, and Minato went forward. There was no telling which pathway would lead where, so they needed to scour every inch of this floor. The searching was made easier since the Shadows were weak and ran away from them when they got close.

Yukari kept looking; making sure to mark off dead-ends by leaving her arrows on the ground to mark off those pathways. After a few minutes, Aigis spoke to them over their transceivers. "I have found the Access Point."

Soon, Yukari heard a noise. It was quiet, but nearby. She began to slowly make her way toward the noise, her hand on her Evoker. After all, when you're in a tower crawling with Shadows, you can't be too careful. As she peeked around the corner, she saw a young girl with her knees pulled up to her chest, crying into her knees. Yukari walked over to her and crouched down near her. "Hey, look at me please." Yukari said to her. She took extra care not to touch her, seeing as she was still scared. The girl did look at Yukari, sniffling and trying to wipe her tears. "Are you hurt at all?" She sniffled and shook her head.

"I'm going to get you out of here and get you home, alright? Just trust me." She told the girl. She nodded and hopped onto Yukari's back. She followed the same path she had taken before, but with the arrows she had left marking off dead ends, the trip was a lot faster. She spoke into her end of the transceiver, "I've got the missing person. Everyone, head for the Access Point." She said. Minato replied with an "Understood," and Koromaru barked his answer. Aigis fed them the route she took and soon, Yukari arrived at the Access Point. She handed the girl to Aigis.

"Who's gone through already?"

The robotic girl answered in her normal monotone. "Koromaru has, but not Minato."

Yukari handed her the girl "Go on. I'll wait for Minato."

Aigis raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"

Yukari fervently nodded. "Go ahead. I'm waiting!" She shoved Aigis through the portal. A few seconds after she did, she felt a chill run up her spine as she heard chains dragging along the ground. In her ear, she heard Minato whisper, "It's the Reaper."

The Reaper was truly a horrible sight to behold. It wore a trench coat with chains all over its body which dragged on the floor. It stood at three meters tall and carried two long-barreled revolvers. Its face was covered entirely in bandages except for one glowing yellow eye. That had tried to fight it once before, but had been wiped out in two attacks, leaving their teammates to come collect their unconscious bodies once it had left. If they spent too much time on a floor in Tartarus, it showed up to try and go after them.

Yukari wasn't going to just leave Minato alone with that monster, but as she heard the chains getting closer, she realized that she was cornered if a battle started. She nocked an arrow and drew back her bowstring, waiting for the Reaper as the sound of chains drew closer.

As it turned the corner, it fired one of its pistols, causing a large fireball to form where Yukari was standing, but she was able to jump aside and fire her arrow into the Reaper's glowing eye, blinding the beast for now. Yukari wasn't so naïve as to believe she had it anywhere near beaten.

The Reaper began firing its pistols wildly in rage, not focusing on aiming any of its attacks. Yukari was forced to try and dodge balls of fire, spikes of ice, tornadoes of wind and bolts of electricity. In the small space she had, she would get hit. Knowing this, she made the lightning strikes a priority to dodge while the green tornadoes of wind energy were relatively low priority, since her Persona resisted wind and was weak to Electricity. After about thirty seconds of this, her cardigan was in tatters and charred in places. Not to mention she was getting exhausted. She saw the Reaper fire its pistol once more and it was wrapped in a pale blue light.

She had seen this skill before: Mind Charge. The Reaper was out to kill her this time. Yukari looked behind her to the Access Point. She didn't want to abandon Minato, but she was afraid she'd have to. As she prepared to run, she heard the familiar sound of glass shattering. That could only mean one thing. A Persona was summoned.

"Cybele! Myriad Arrows!"

Arrows rained down onto the Reaper as a blue-haired boy ducked past the injured monster, a purple-skinned woman with two swords floating above him. He dispelled his Persona and ran to Yukari. Now that she knew he was alright, they headed to the Access Point together.

The Reaper had other ideas, and fired its pistol one last time, releasing a cluster of charged up lightning bolts. They rained down around the Access Point, and one was about to drop right on Yukari and Minato. As fast as they were, they couldn't outrun electricity, and so Yukari's mind began working a mile a minute.

She could save herself, or save Minato. He was so much better than her. He always had a group of people asking him to hang out at lunch, he always scored at the top of their class on tests, and he was also the team leader. Yukari also realized that she could have left earlier. If she protected him then, what was different now?

She pushed him forward, the lightning bolt coursing through her body, making her scream in pain. The last thing she saw was Minato's face before everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**Across the Borders Chapter 2**

Yukari looked around. She was in a void of all darkness. She tried moving, and she found she was moving in all directions. It was almost like being under water, except there was nothing. _"Is this what space feels like?" _she asked herself. She checked herself and found she at least had her clothes, thank goodness, as well as her Evoker. In the back of her mind, she still felt the presence that her Persona gave off.

"That was quite a nasty hit you took there. I'm surprised anything was salvageable at all."

Yukari spun around where she saw a woman with messy blonde hair. She had golden eyes and wore a deep purple dress, and from the arms, it was possible to see what she wore pale pink clothes underneath. "Really, taking a fatal strike for a loved one. So admirable."

Yukari stared at her before finding her voice. "Who are you!? Where are we?"

The blonde woman smiled. "I'm Yukari Yakumo. And who might you be?"

Yukari stared, "… I'm Yukari Takeba."

The blonde shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you. You wouldn't also happen to be the Yokai of Borders, would you?"

Yukari scratched her head. "The what of what? I'm a normal human!"

The blonde frowned. "So it seems we only share a name. Too bad. So I guess you have some questions."

Yukari nodded. "Yeah. First off, where are we? Second, what are you?"

Blonde Yukari smiled. "As to where we are, we're in the space between spaces. As the Yokai of Borders, I can move through here. As to why you're here, well…" She trailed off.

"Well what?"

"You're dead."

The yokai counted the time that it took to get a reaction.. One. Two. Three. Fou-

"What do you mean I'm dead!?"

Yukari only shrugged. "I don't know. All I know is that your spirit passed through the Hakurai Barrier, which woke me up. Maybe if you tell me about how you died, I can help you."

Yukari focused on remembering. "The… Reaper... Hit me with a lightning bolt… during the Dark Hour!" With each word, her thoughts came back to the forefront of her mind.

The blonde snapped her fingers. "The Dark Hour? Oh that!" She said. "Some sort of spatial distortion in your world. When you die there, you're pretty much rolling the dice with where you go when you die."

Yukari let this sink in. Her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she began to panic. "Oh god! You mean there's no telling what'll happen to me!?"

Blonde Yukari smiled. "Relax. The fact that you're here means I know exactly where you're going and if I'm right, you'll want to go back, right?"

"Of course I want to go back." Was what she said, but what she was thinking was _"I want to see Minato again."_

The blonde grabbed the brunette spirit's wrist. "Alright, come on. I'm a good friend of the ruler of the dead here in Gensokyo. Leave everything to me!"

For whatever reason, her reassurance didn't help Yukari. In fact, it only made her more uneasy.

Yukari was thrown out of the gap, landing at the bottom of a long flight of stairs. From inside the gap, Blonde Yukari called, "I'll meet you at the top. I've got to talk over some things with Yuyuko first."

Yukari sighed and began to walk up the flight of stairs. "Oh god! This is worse than Tartarus!" At least she only had an hour of Tartarus. After about two hours of climbing the endless staircase, Yukari's legs gave out under her and she collapsed. She considered her options: Down or up. There was nothing in the world that could make her go back down, because she'd just have to re-climb it later. And she didn't have any more energy in her legs to go up. Energy… That was it!

She pulled her Evoker out of its holster and pressed it to her forehead. Feeling the cool metal tip of the gun was strangely calming to her, but it was a memento from her time alive. She squeezed the trigger and the sound of glass shattering was heard.

"Persona!"

Yukari's Persona, Io, appeared above her. It was a black-skinned woman with blonde hair chained to a throne shaped like a cow's head with her arms crossed. Yukari squeezed the trigger again. "Garula!" The wind spell she ordered created a swirling tornado of green wind energy underneath her. The small windstorm began to move up the steps while Yukari sat comfortably on top, a pleasant smirk on her face.

Once she finally reached the top, she found a small building that looked like a shrine. Yukari dispelled her Persona and walked in. There, she saw the other Yukari fast asleep on a table while another girl sat across from her. She had wavy pink hair and was wearing a blue and white kimono. When Yukari walked in,, she smiled.

"Oh, you must be the one I heard about! I'm Yuyuko Saigyouji."

Yukari cocked her head, sizing her up. She looked rather young. "You're the ruler of the dead?"

Yuyuko made an effort to sit up straighter to appear taller. "Is that really so hard to believe?

"Yes. How old are you anyways?"

Yuyuko chuckled. "Over a thousand years old. Yukari here and I go way back."

While the dead brunette stared in shock, the sleepy blonde lifted her head and opened her eyes. "I'm only seventeen! I told you this before!" She turned her head to where Yukari was. "Oh, right. You. I talked with Yuyuko, and she's decided to let you go back after you help her out with some stuff."

Yuyuko added, "It shouldn't be too difficult. You'll have a little help. After all, I do have other yokai helping down here."

Yukari decided now was a good time to get her questions answered. "So what exactly is a yokai anyway? You've both mentioned that you are one, and that there are others, but that doesn't exactly help."

Yuyuko smiled sweetly. "Yokai are magical creatures. Fairies, vampires, that sort of thing. Creatures of folklore."

Yukari was glad to finally have that question that was nagging at her answered. "And what are you?"

Yuyuko gave her a bright smile. "I'm a ghost."

Yukari just stared with a look of shock when she said that. Yuyuko walked over to her and waved her hand in front of her face. "Yukari? Yukari? Hello?"

No response.

Yuyuko put her hand on her chest, giving Yukari a gentle push, and she teetered back, falling onto the ground. Blonde Yukari began giggling behind her hand. "And what's so funny?" Yuyuko asked.

Blonde Yukari couldn't control her giggles. "I didn't think there were any humans that scared of ghosts! If she wasn't dead before, she'd be dead now for sure!"

Yuyuko huffed. "Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" As if on cue, Blonde Yukari yawned.

"Come to mention it, I am kind of tired. See you later." She said, opening a portal and hopping in, leaving Yuyuko with the unconscious spirit.

She sighed before calling, "Youmo! Can you come in here for a minute?" From outside came a girl with short silver hair worn in a bob cut with bright red eyes. She wore a dark green and white dress, with a ribbon tied off-center in her hair. Behind her followed a shapeless white phantom that was the same height as the girl.

She did a little curtsy. "You called, Mistress Yuyuko?"

The ghost nodded. "Can you find a bed for this girl here?" She asked, waving her hand to indicate Yukari.

Youmu nodded, throwing Yukari onto her shoulder. "Should I look after her when she wakes up?"

Yuyuko nodded. "Yeah. Once she wakes up, take her to the gardens. She'll help you out. Oh, and don't let her see your phantom half right away. She's a little skittish." Youmu sighed. She could already tell that this girl was going to be high-maintenance.


	3. Chapter 3

**Across the Borders Chapter 3**

Yukari woke up in a bed. That was weird. Last thing she remembered was finding out she was staring down a ghost. She looked out the window, and saw it was dark out, moonrise to be exact. "Ugh... How long was I out for?" She asked herself as she sat up on the bed and stretched her arms up.

"About fourteen hours, Miss Yukari."

"Eep!" She cried, jumping two feet in the air before seeing the silver-haired girl. "Y-you scared me! Who are you anyway?"

The girl giggled at Yukari's reaction and walked forward. "I'm Youmu Konpaku. I'm Mistress Yuyuko's gardener and swordplay instructor. Though I also end up doing everything else." She said. She spoke in almost a monotone, and it was hard to read any emotion in her face. She grabbed Yukari's wrist. "And you're going to help me!"

Yukari tried to shake Youmu's grip on her as she was pulled along. "And how long am I going to help you?"

The half-phantom released the brunette's arm, but made sure she was still following her along. "Until Mistress Yuyuko lets you go."

Yukari sighed, "Of course it's never simple. What's my task?"

Youmu's eye has a mischievous glint as she said, "Oh, nothing big. Just have a conversation with her."

As soon as Youmu said that, a million thoughts flew through Yukari's head. If just being so close to a real ghost had made her pass out for hours, how was she supposed to handle a full conversation. But it was for Minato. She needed to get back to him.

_I can do this. _

_I can't do this._

_I need to focus on my goal._

_I'm too scared to think about anything._

_I have to-_

"Miss Yukari!" Youmu called, interrupting her inner monologue, "Are you coming or not?"

"I'll be right there!" She said, running after Youmu. She was still somewhat creeped out by the girl, but she would much rather be with her then wander across some malevolent spirit.

Youmu led her out into the garden. "Let's get to work."

Yukari nervously chuckled. "I… don't exactly know what to do. I've never been much of a green thumb."

Youmu just looked at her for a few seconds. "Come on." She led her to a pond. "We need to water all the flowers. The pond refills, so it's not an issue."

Youmu grabbed a nearby bucket and began to pour it on the gardens, while Yukari had a better idea. When Youmu wasn't looking, she summoned her Persona and collected some of the water in one of her cyclones and proceeded to sprinkle it over the flowers.

The gardens were rather large, but Yukari managed to get through watering them rather easily by using her wind powers. As soon as she was done, Youmu walked by handing her a pair of gloves and a trowel. "To make sure these gardens are perfect, we need to look over them for weeds."

Yukari sighed as she knelt down next to Youmu and got to work. She felt a little chilly next to her as she worked, and she couldn't help but feel something watching her. "Hey Youmu, it's just you and me here, right?"

"Of course it is, Miss Yukari. Why do you ask?"

"I just can't shake the feeling that something's watching us."

Youmu looked around without missing a beat in her work. "I don't see anything. It's just you and me."

Yukari took her own look and cried out in panic. "Y-Y-Youmu! B-B-Behind you!" She cried, pointing at a formless white mass about the same height as Youmu.

Youmu looked behind her at the white shape. "It's just you and me here."

Yukari kept pointing at it. "Do you not see it!?"

Youmu went back to her work. "I see it. I'm half-human, half-phantom. Both are me." Yukari began to look a little dizzy. "Miss Yukari, if you fall unconscious, I'm going to throw you in the pond."

She took a few deep breaths to compose herself. "So you're a ghost too?"

"Half-phantom. And there is a difference."

"Really? I thought they were the same thing."

Youmu stopped working and sat down facing Yukari. "Phantoms are like my other half. They don't have a distinct form or shapes. They're like white balls of essence. Ghosts are dead spirits, like Mistress Yuyuko or even you, if we're getting technical. They retain all their characteristics they had when they were alive."

Yukari settled down a little bit. "Knowing I'm a ghost doesn't help my fear of them. So since you seem to be a special case, how did you die?"

Youmu's face remained static but in her eyes was a hint of amusement. "I didn't. I was always like this. So was my predecessor before I served my Mistress. Now that's my job."

Yukari nodded in understanding before deciding to branch a new topic of conversation. "So how old are you? I know that your Mistress is over a thousand, but-"

"Around sixty or so." Youmu admitted. "I've got a lot of learning to do about the outside world, but I do my best."

Yukari smiled at her. "That's admirable of you," She reflexively moved a little further away, but Youmu moved closer.

Youmu moved until she was right beside Yukari, her phantom self right behind them.

"Personal space please." Yukari asked, moving away, but Youmu pulled her back.

"No. I'm trying to help you. If you can get used to phantoms, ghosts should be easier for you." Youmu added something in a very small voice that Yukari didn't catch.

"What was that Youmu?" Yukari asked.

Youmu mumbled something into the flowers.

Yukari grabbed her chin and forced her to look at her. "Seriously. What did you say?"

Youmu took a deep breath. "I'm also scared of ghosts!" She quickly turned away and refused to look Yukari in the eye, but her phantom half was looking a bit pink now.

Yukari blinked. Clearly Youmu was full of surprises. "You're okay with Yuyuko and me though."

Youmu still refused to make eye-contact. "Special cases. I've been close to Mistress Yuyuko all my life and so I'm not nervous around her at all. Even though she's tried to eat m-"

Yukari had to cut her off. "Wait, you're not scared of the ghost that's tried to eat you!?"

Youmu looked undisturbed. "Let me finish. She's tried to eat my phantom half, but only when I forget to cook enough breakfast. And you, well you're a friend of Miss Yukari," She must have meant the Blonde Yukari, "So I'm supposed to be respectful toward you. Plus, you'll be gone soon if all goes well."

Yukari gave her a friendly smile. "Well, I'm glad you're not scared of me. I'm just having trouble getting used all this stuff. Everything's happened in… What time is it?"

Youmu quickly supplied, "About midnight." Not that you could tell, since it was always night in the Netherworld.

"Thank you. All this has happened in about twenty-four hours. I die for the one I love; I'm whisked off to a strange new world, and meet my biggest fear face-to-face." She didn't know why she was confiding in Youmu, but since she had confided about her before, Yukari felt she could do the same.

They went back to work in silence and together, they finished rather quickly. There weren't many weeds to remove to start with so when they focoused on their task, it went by much faster than it had before.

Once Youmu had done one last sweep to make sure the gardens were perfect, she dusted herself off. "Mistress Yuyuko should be getting up soon. I should get started on breakfast."

Yukari climbed to her feet. "Want any help?"

"Sure. Come along." Yukari watched her face as she said that, and she could have sworn she saw a genuine smile on Youmu's face.


	4. Chapter 4

**Across The Borders Chapter 4**

Yukari was scrambling through the kitchen to try and keep up with Youmu. Somehow, her two halves could move independently and were making all sorts of breakfast foods from every culture. There was bacon, croissants, miso, hash browns, pancakes, fruit and some things Yukari couldn't even name. Yukari could never have done all this, so Youmu had her making omelettes to round out the breakfast. Yukari would have asked how Yuyuko could consume so much food, but then she remembered about what Youmu said about her trying to eat her phantom half if she wasn't full.

After four hours of work and what Yukari estimated would be several thousand dollars in groceries, Youmu proclaimed they were done, and they started to move everything out to the main room where Yukari had first met Yuyuko. As they laid the food out, Youmu started up a conversation since they had some time. "So, do you know what you're going to talk to Mistress Yuyuko about?"

Yukari smiled. "I think I have an idea. As long as I don't focus on her, or what she is, then I should be able to handle this."

Youmu gave her a friendly smile. "Good luck. I should go wake up the Mistress now." As Youmu left, Yukari sat down and began to nibble on a slice of toast. As a spirit, eating wasn't needed, but it was still habitual for her and everything smelled so good, she just had to try something.

Yukari raised her head as she heard a loud yawn. Directing her gaze toward the sound, she saw a sleepy Yuyuko shuffle forward, her eyes half-closed. Youmu went outside, and she had two swords on her. Yukari didn't know where she got them, but she did say she was Yuyuko's swordplay teacher. She just have picked them up on her way.

Yuyuko's eyes began to open as the aroma of the food wafted over to where she was, and she began going at the food like it was her last meal. Yukari sighed. It must be great to be able to eat all that and still keep a figure like that… No, she was losing focus! She needed to keep a conversation going to show Yuyuko she conquered her fear.

She was still terrified, but she had a plan. She looked at Yuyuko as she worked up the nerve to start talking. "A-are you p-p-planning on eating all o-of that..?" She asked hesitantly.

Yuyuko finished the bite she was chewing, wiped her mouth and grinned. "Of course I am. If you're in the afterlife, you have to make the best of it."

Yukari smiled. She could keep this going. She just focoused on the one thing that would help her through this. "What if I told you there was a living person who could eat all that, maybe even more, and look exactly the same?"

Yuyuko spat out the bite of waffle in her mouth straight across the table. Yukari ducked just in time to keep herself clean and reappeared as Yuyuko cried, "You're lying! Who could possibly eat so much!?"

Yukari was calm as she kept her mind focoused, just barely registering what Yuyuko was saying. "Minato Arisato. He's quite possibly the best at eating and sleeping anywhere." She wished she was lying, but the boy she had fallen for slept through almost all his classes and never got caught, and he had a bottomless pit for a stomach.

Yuyuko was intrigued. "Really? Tell me about this "Minato" character. He seems like quite the charmer."

Yukari giggled. "You have no idea." Her face took on a pensive look as she began talking about him. His looks, his intelligence, how he always knew the right thing to say. The only time she stopped was when Yuyuko had a question, but Yukari never faltered in her speech.

Yukari finished at about the same time Yuyuko finished her breakfast. The Ghost Princess smiled. "Well, that was quite a conversation, though you did most of the talking. I suppose you did complete the task I set before you. You're free to go. Youmu!"

The human/phantom walked back in. Was she right outside the door the whole time? "You called Mistress?"

"Show Yukari where the gap is please." And to Yukari, she said, "I enjoyed having you here. Be sure to stop by next time you die. And bring Minato as well. I want to meet him."

Yukari chuckled. "Sure thing Yuyuko." She walked out with Youmu to the gap. It was at the bottom of the endless flight of stairs, so Yukari had her Persona make two cyclones, so they both could ride down in style. Once they reached the bottom, Yukari hugged Youmu. "Thank you so much for everything! Without you, I don't think I would be leaving now. I'll miss you."

Yukari knew that Youmu was blushing and her phantom self was pink instead of white. "I'm happy to help you, Miss Yukari. I hope to see you again someday."

And with her farewell said, she hopped into the gap and began floating in space again. She would never get used to this feeling. Considering the area was a void where she couldn't tell up from down, she did the only thing she could think of.

"YUKARI, GET YOUR BLONDE BUTT OUT HERE TO GET ME HOME!"

The blonde appeared in front of here. "Geez, no need to shout. I assume Yuyuko let you go free?"

Yukari glared. "Would I be here if she didn't?"

Blonde Yukari tapped her chin in thought. "Well, you could have found the gap on your own, but then Youmu would've cut you into itty-bitty ghost pieces for escaping, so no." She then began to concentrate. "Are you sure you want your old body? I could give you any body, provided it lacks a developed soul. There's plenty of babies being born right now. Ooh, there's even a robot or two out there in your world!"

Yukari let her prattle on for a bit before giving an exasperated sigh. "No than you. I want my old body. The body I died in is the body I want to live in."

Blonde Yukari shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you ever want to change, just take another lightning bolt to the face. I'll be sure to catch you."

It was certainly an odd experience, having your soul returned to your body. The best way Yukari could describe it is like waking up from a dream, and realizing you slept on cinderblocks. She was not comfortable. She had been officially dead for over twenty-four hours and her muscles had started to degenerate.

She was thankful she was in a hospital and not buried. She lay down as the instruments hooked up to her kept track of her vitals. As far as she could tell, they looked normal enough. She gave herself a quick once-over and couldn't help but notice there was no lasting damage from the lightning strike. Someone must have kept casting healing spells that repaired any physical damage.

She heard a pair of footsteps coming down the hall. The voice speaking sounded like that of an older man. "Yes, I can let you see her, but I don't understand why you're paying for her to stay here. She was pronounced dead and won't be coming back anytime soon, I can promise you that."

The voice stopped speaking as one of the doctors and Minato both walked in. Yukari tried to speak, only now realizing how dehydrated she was. "Min… A… To?" She croaked out. The doctor stared at her in shock before quickly walking out, pretending nothing unusual or impossible had just happened.

Minato handed her a bottle of water which she opened with a great amount of difficulty. "Geez Yukari." He said, teasingly. "I didn't think you were that weak."

She drained the entire bottle on two large gulps, before sticking her tongue out at him. "You try dying!" She shot back, a smile plastered on both of their faces.

He hugged her tight. "I'm so glad you're alright." He gave her a stern look after he separated himself from her. "Don't you ever do something that stupid again. The last thing we need is you getting a Messiah complex."

She couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Don't worry. I don't see that happening in the near future."

Minato found her laugh infectious, and chuckled a little as well. Once they both settled down, he asked her "So, what was dying like?"

Yukari's smile faded. "Oh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you."

He gave her an indignant look. "Every night, we spend a hidden twenty-fifth hour of the day fighting Shadows with figures of mythology by shooting ourselves in the head. I'll believe anything."

Yukari gave him a playful smirk. "Compared to my story, that'll seem as normal as writing tests. Now sit down, because it's quite the tale…"


End file.
